The Etruscan Woman and “Romanization”: An Onomastic Case Study

The disappearance of the female praenomen is typically seen as yet another sign of the “Romanization” and decline of late Etruscan culture. This development supposedly saw the Etruscan woman reduced from a prominent public personality to a role of secondary importance. However, a thorough examination of this onomastic element shows that the timing of its disappearance differs greatly by locality and is strongly linked to the process of Latinization. Three case studies are investigated – Chiusi, Tarquinia, and Volterra – each showing that this onomastic development is connected to cultural shifts in epigraphic paradigms rather than institutional or social changes. While this different way of describing women in funerary contexts may have had real consequences for their social status, there are also reasons to assume an improvement in their position took place (e.g., a higher percentage of female epitaphs and votive inscriptions), painting a complex picture.